Upgrade BIOS Ubuntu 16 on HP WorkStation HP Z600

[davadmin]

Hello,

I have a HP WorkStation HP Z600 PC, with Ubuntu 16.04 (I remove Windows), unfortunately, I occasionally have ACPI error + kernel panic at startup ..

Here is the diary:

[    0.000000] ACPI BIOS Warning (bug): 32/64X length mismatch in FADT/Pm1aEventBlock: 32/16 (20170531/tbfadt-603)
[    0.000000] ACPI BIOS Warning (bug): 32/64X length mismatch in FADT/Gpe0Block: 128/32 (20170531/tbfadt-603)
[    0.000000] ACPI BIOS Warning (bug): Invalid length for FADT/Pm1aEventBlock: 16, using default 32 (20170531/tbfadt-708)
[    0.012401] ENERGY_PERF_BIAS: Set to 'normal', was 'performance'
[    0.012401] ENERGY_PERF_BIAS: View and update with x86_energy_perf_policy(8)
[    0.016086] DMAR-IR: This system BIOS has enabled interrupt remapping
               on a chipset that contains an erratum making that
               feature unstable.  To maintain system stability
               interrupt remapping is being disabled.  Please
               contact your BIOS vendor for an update
[    0.060000] core: CPUID marked event: 'bus cycles' unavailable
[    0.060608]   #2  #3  #4  #5
[    0.073085] PCCT header not found.
[    0.087321] ACPI Error: [CAPD] Namespace lookup failure, AE_ALREADY_EXISTS (20170531/dsfield-211)
[    0.087321] ACPI Error: Method parse/execution failed \_SB.PCI0._OSC, AE_ALREADY_EXISTS (20170531/psparse-550)
[    0.142173] pci 0000:00:1f.0: BAR 13: [io  size 0x0080] has bogus alignment
[    0.142174] pci 0000:00:1f.0: BAR 14: [io  size 0x0040] has bogus alignment
[   10.373823] kvm: VM_EXIT_LOAD_IA32_PERF_GLOBAL_CTRL does not work properly. Using workaround
[   10.523265] nvidia: loading out-of-tree module taints kernel.
[   10.523272] nvidia: module license 'NVIDIA' taints kernel.
[   10.523273] Disabling lock debugging due to kernel taint
[   10.534933] NVRM: loading NVIDIA UNIX x86_64 Kernel Module  340.104  Thu Sep 14 17:13:13 PDT 2017
[75710.054807] kauditd_printk_skb: 19 callbacks suppressed
[75716.562204] kauditd_printk_skb: 3 callbacks suppressed

I guess you have to update the BIOS. ?

My version of my BIOS is 786G4 v 03.57.

I found the LINUX BIOS (on hp.com) but what is the easiest way for ubuntu?

___

- CD ISO

or

- xwbios / hplxbios ? (you have to have RHEL, whereas it's for REDHAT? )

____

Is there a solution for UBUNTU users? can I burn BIOS_CD (7G4_0361.iso) and update the BIOS directly by booting from this CD?

Thanks for your help.

[SDH]

Update BIOS from within BIOS..... BIOS does not know or care what OS you are running.

I've posted about this many times here...... and HERE is a recent link:

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Business-PCs-Workstations-and-Point-of-Sale-Systems/Updating-Z400-BIOS...

[davadmin]

Ok, so I burn the ISO image and start it, that's all?

[SDH]

No.

You harvest only the .bin file as stated in my link, put that on a thumb drive formatted as described HERE.

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Business-PCs-Workstations-and-Point-of-Sale-Systems/Updating-Z400-BIOS...

Here is what HP says in the SoftPaq about updating BIOS from BIOS, and I'm giving you a method to easily harvest the .bin file.  You can run that SoftPaq on any HP or non-HP computer to get the files on the root level of its C drive and go grab only the .bin file.  Delete the rest.... you don't need them for this method.  Here is HP's info:

"Hewlett-Packard BIOS Flash Update

The HP Workstation system supported by this Softpaq provides a BIOS upgrade option through F10 setup using the “Flash System ROM” feature.  Reboot the PC and press F10 to enter setup.  In the File menu, select the “Flash System ROM” item.  This flash utility will present the user with the option to select the media containing the BIOS image file (XXX_MMmm.bin).  The binary image file is contained in the DOS Flash directory and is named XXX_MMmm.bin where "XXX" is the abbreviated BIOS family, "MM" is the major version number, and "mm" is the minor version number.  F10 ROM based flash can accept the binary file from the root directory of any removable media such as USB or CD. On the Z800, Z600, and Z400 platforms the floppy diskette is no longer supported as a BIOS flash device as the ROM image is too large to fit on the floppy disks.  The BIOS CD Media file, included in this Softpaq, should be used to create a BIOS image CD.  When flashing with F10 ROM based flash, the CD media must be El-Torito compatible.  The user is prompted when the process is completed.  The new BIOS code will not take effect until the PC is rebooted."

I suppose you could go another route and create a CD that had only the .bin file on it, but for me this other USB drive approach has been rock solid, and the most reliable and fast method I have used over the past decade.  HP gives you many options to pull this off, but my approach does not involve Windows or Linux during the BIOS firmware update.  It is only using BIOS.

[davadmin]

But the .bin file is already in the CD_BOOT or DOS_FLASH:

BIOS_CD Images ( 7G4_0361.iso )

content:
CDROM : 7g4_0361.img / 7G4_0361.bin

or

DOS_Flash /

content

7G4_0361.bin

...

...

So is it ready for use?

You just have to burn the image iso and boot on it?

[SDH]

Go for it and let us know.

[davadmin]

I burned the image on a DVDROM with brasero (ubuntu)

But the cdrom does not boot.

[davadmin]

It's good I upgraded the BIOS with the FLASH ROM solution

v 3.57 to v3.61

It's ok

But that does not change anything to my problem, buggy startup every other time.:smileysad:

Like this log error:

[    0.000000] ACPI BIOS Warning (bug): 32/64X length mismatch in FADT/Pm1aEventBlock: 32/16 (20170531/tbfadt-603)
[    0.000000] ACPI BIOS Warning (bug): 32/64X length mismatch in FADT/Gpe0Block: 128/32 (20170531/tbfadt-603)
[    0.000000] ACPI BIOS Warning (bug): Invalid length for FADT/Pm1aEventBlock: 16, using default 32 (20170531/tbfadt-708)
[    0.012617] ENERGY_PERF_BIAS: Set to 'normal', was 'performance'
[    0.012618] ENERGY_PERF_BIAS: View and update with x86_energy_perf_policy(8)
[    0.016088] DMAR-IR: This system BIOS has enabled interrupt remapping
               on a chipset that contains an erratum making that
               feature unstable.  To maintain system stability
               interrupt remapping is being disabled.  Please
               contact your BIOS vendor for an update
[    0.060000] core: CPUID marked event: 'bus cycles' unavailable
[    0.060601]   #2  #3  #4  #5
[    0.073091] PCCT header not found.
[    0.087613] ACPI Error: [CAPD] Namespace lookup failure, AE_ALREADY_EXISTS (20170531/dsfield-211)
[    0.087613] ACPI Error: Method parse/execution failed \_SB.PCI0._OSC, AE_ALREADY_EXISTS (20170531/psparse-550)
[    0.146198] pci 0000:00:1f.0: BAR 13: [io  size 0x0080] has bogus alignment
[    0.146199] pci 0000:00:1f.0: BAR 14: [io  size 0x0040] has bogus alignment
[   10.600136] kvm: VM_EXIT_LOAD_IA32_PERF_GLOBAL_CTRL does not work properly. Using workaround
[   10.648919] nvidia: loading out-of-tree module taints kernel.
[   10.648925] nvidia: module license 'NVIDIA' taints kernel.
[   10.648926] Disabling lock debugging due to kernel taint
[   10.659642] NVRM: loading NVIDIA UNIX x86_64 Kernel Module  340.104  Thu Sep 14 17:13:13 PDT 2017

[SDH]

Davadmin,

I think what you are saying is that you finally tried my method and it worked.  Congrats!

As far as the Linux bugginess..... try Windows 10 as it is working very well for us on these workstations.  I know that might not be an attractive option for you, but I have been more and more impressed with W10Pro64.  We still use W7Pro64 a lot here.

Best, and I'm happy you finally got that BIOS upgraded.

[davadmin]

Hello

Win 10 ??!, no thank's, I work on ubuntu (LAMP)...because I have very specific reasons.

After all these years and after putting a BIOS of March 2018, HP would not have solved the problem, it's really strange.

Why did you make a linux version of bios (lxbios), if not to work on it ??

Maybe the version (lxbios) and the DOS version Flash, is really different ...

It's really frustrating.